Sunday, December 14, 2008

(Note: This post is partially based on information that was kindly sent in by a reader. The Tattler is dedicated to printing important information as it arrives. We feel that it is our mission to keep the people of Sierra Madre as informed as possible about important events. Because if we don't do it, what other news venue will?)

Public auction is now set for December 19 for both the One Carter & Stonehouse properties. The opening bid is set at $51 million dollars, or best offer. These properties are to be sold by CapitalSource (that's how they spell it) Finance Bankof Maryland, with temporary oversight (receivership) being handled by the Douglas Wilson Co. out of San Diego. The Douglas Wilson Co. has been feng shui-ing the infrastructure work being seen as of late, with Laing Luxury Homes supervisory personnel orchestrating all the artistic mud pushing. Obviously with the purpose of making this calamity specific development project look as good as possible for the marks at Friday's auction in Pomona.

Talk about putting lipstick on a pig ...

And, as is fairly well-known, it is Laing Luxury Homes that carries the bonds. Laing Luxury Homes is still owned by Emaar, the Dubai, United Arab Emirates, real estate development conglomerate. Or at least as far as we know. Emaar, who specializes in luxury developments around the world, now finds itself in a business that is bearing the brunt of the world-wide real estate and banking collapse.

Now why would anyone want to own denuded hillside property, located in a recent fire zone, and prone to mudslides, earthquakes, and other "Acts of God" related inconveniences? Does this "best offer" caveat mean that we're looking at a fire sale auction? So to speak?

And with capital financing nearly non-existent due to the banking collapse both here and elsewhere around the world, where would the financing for a development of multi-million dollar luxury homes come from? And in this market who would be able to buy them? And wouldn't an absence of buyers for these properties signal that savvy investors realize that none of this has bottomed out yet, and that these properties could go for far less in a year or so?

I guess we're going to find out.

So perhaps nobody will bid on these properties, at least to the tune of $51 million? And that a "best offer" bid might actually be considered? If that is the case I'm putting down $20 bucks. As any lottery player can tell you, you just never know.

10 comments:

Sir Eric!I'll go in for $20.00, let's make the bid!If we get it, we'll donate it to the city so we don't have to pay taxes on it.Perhaps other readers of the Sierra Madre Tattler would be willing to chip in.We could offer a bid of a few hundred dollars, giving us a good shot at it!

Thanks for the update, Sir Eric. Somebody must be making a lot of money on that mess, or they would just walk away from the multi-millionaire suburb, right? Douglas Wilson calls it the "One Carter Estates."News out of the Yorba Linda fire - a suit against the city for, among other things, a lack of water pressure. Isn't that what some people said at the Carter hearings - no water pressure up there?http://www.ocregister.com/articles/city-water-district-2248620-claim-yorba

If anybody is going to the One Carter Estates auction please let us know. We'd like get in a little coverage of the event. Plus we are now up to $94 dollars in funding for this. Going to need somebody there to make the bid.

The saddest part is that there is a default and the City is likely to have to invoke the bond and use it to do the public works. Unless something pretty creative happens, the city puts in curbs and gutters and we've got a half-developed nightmare. The decision to permit this project was one of the worst.

roia is sure got it right here.As much as we laugh and make jokes about this, the sad fact remains.The decision by former city council members, Stockley, Torres, Joffe, and current member Buchanan was tragic. The planning commission voted to reject this massive pro-development/real estate deal and these four city council members betrayed the people of Sierra Madre. We are now paying the price and as roia says, it's going to get a lot worse.

Did anyone see the special report, think it was on CNN the other night?It was about the UAE, namely Dubai......says their economy is about to go belly up.I was shocked. I guess the crash in the price of oil and the crash in REAL ESTATE has them in a ton of trouble. They obviously were/are overextended. Don't think they'll be bailing out One Carter any time soon.

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